Title: Heart of Darkness
Author: Joseph Conrad
Date of Publication:
Literary Period: Modernist
Genre: Novella
Describe the setting and then explain the relevance of the setting.
Double layer setting, goes along with the double narration
First setting; On a boat in the Thames
Second Setting: in the Congo in Africa, the setting within the actual story
Settings represent the division between storyteller and receiver of the story
Show how meaning of story radiates out from a personal incident to a broader meaning
Sitting in London and telling the story about how he's going to the Congo, but first he goes to a Belgium owned city which he calls the "whited sepulcher
Themes (These statements should be complete sentences and completely developed ideas)
Conrad satirizes the use of constant, meaningless work by Marlow as a way to protect himself from the immorality surrounding him.
There is a constant battle between morality and goodness within everyone, choosing between two bad choices, etc.
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow’s journey through Africa represents his growth and discovery of the immorality buried within all people, and the futility of the journey as they keep stopping and making little progress shows that work is merely a distraction from said immorality.
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow betrays Kurtz and his desire for justice when he lies to Kurtz’ fiance about the last words, showing that kind lies can be safer than dark truths.
In Heart of Darkness, there is an illuminating incident when the Russian reveals that Kurtz demanded the attack on the boat, showing Marlow that Kurtz was not the moral ideal that he expected and that he had given into his inner greed and savagery.
In Heart of Darkness, Conrad uses the cruelty of the ‘civilized’ group of people to show the irony in the description of the natives as savages when the colonists are the ones who are condemning an entire culture that they do not understand as animals.
Plot Summary (Please do not copy and paste. Simply list the high points of the novel) - Consider creating a visual flow chart or graph and posting it here. (Beginning, Middle, End)
BOOK ONE:
We are chilling on a boat in London, and it is established that this is going to be a double layer narrative where there is a story being told inside the story and Marlow starts his flashback
Marlow goes to Brussels, and with his aunt's help, who believes he wants to go to educate and help people, he receives a job as a steamboat captain and goes to the Congo
He gets his job, meets the fates, gets his head measured by a doctor who never expects him to come back because usually the steamboat captains die while they're gone and never come back
He gets on a ship and talks about how weirdly it behaves and how the jungles seems to be watching them
Start at the outer station, where he meets the accountant, and finds the random explosions, then he goes and walks through the jungle with the fat guy who is not fit for walking through the jungle
We get to the inner station, where we discover that the boat has sunk and he meets the manager who is probably plotting againts kurtz and he hears about the plots against Kurtz and all my buddy wants is rivets and to fix his stupid boat and get to Kurtz so he can make money
All this time there is personification about the jungle and how it is alive and watching and thinking
PART TWO:
They get on a boat
The find the book
They get attacked
The helmsman dies
Part Three:
The Russian reveals that Kurtz called for the attack
He tells that Kurtz has been sick multiple times
Kurtz puts heads on stakes
The Russian goes off so he does not get killed
Kurtz comes out on a stretcher looking like death
Kurtz has a mistress
Marlow follows Kurtz off into the woods alone
Kurtz goes with Marlow and company
Kurtz dies on the boat, saying "The horror! The horror!"
Marlow lives, continues Kurtz' legacy
Lies to fiance about Kurtz last words
Memorable Quotes and their SIGNIFICANCE.
"Whited Sepulcher"- Hypocritical, shows where the greed comes from, need for more tangible belongings
"paper mache Mephistopheles"- description of the manager's spy
"The word 'ivory' rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it"- the description of ivory as something to be revered, as the main thing controlling the men was greed and the ivory became a representation of their greed. It was the only thing they worked for, and the main factor controlling their happiness and success.
"Rivets" He just wanted his dang rivets, shows the focus throughout the novel on work and the futility of work. Despite the problems and moral issues surrounding the citizens, the rivets were the main concern because without them they were wasting time.
"The horror! The horror!" - Finally, at the end of the novel, Kurtz reveals that he understands what he has surrounded himself with and he understands society is dark at heart.
Describe the significance of the opening scene.
The opening scene is Marlow talking to an unnamed group of sailors, representing the common views of society in their unity and anonymity. The narrator has initial thoughts about the greatness of conquest and the glory of exploration, showing the traditional thoughts of society. Marlow combats these thoughts with descriptions of Europe as hiding a dark heart.
Devotion to work protects men from corruption.
The town being a "whited sepulchar" shows the purity and whiteness hiding darkness or corruption inside, beginning the theme that all people are hiding darkness within themselves.
Water equals memory
Duality of light and dark, the light from the sea vs the darkness of land and the city
Describe the significance of the closing scene.
After Marlow returns to the city, he sees everyone as being silly and naive, as they will never understand what he does about the world and the corruption of society.
Marlow continues to protect Kurtz' reputation after Kurtz dies, showing that he keeps feeling a sense of loyalty to Kurtz after Kurtz accepted the truth about what he had done.
The cluelessness of the intended about Kurtz, her fiance, reinforces the ideas of women symbolizing hollowness of society.
Marlow ended the novel by lying to the Intended, showing his ultimate deviation from his search for the truth and his acceptance that society is fueled by generous lies.
The book ends by going back to the frame on the boat with Marlow looking like Buddha, and the narrator begins to realize that civilization does, in fact, have a dark heart and he no longer goes with his previous self delusion of the glory of conquest.
Describe the author's style and provide examples from the text.
HEAVY descriptors
Wordy, allegorical meanings behind everything such as when he makes the fiance a symbolic figure for the purity and blindness of civilization as a whole
List importance characters and their significance.
Narrator-Not a common presence in the novel, offers an unbiased outside viewpoint towards Marlow's story. Marlow- "Hero" figure, going on a quest to discover the truth about society and the absolute overall truth, hopes that people are better than they actually are. Moral figure who focuses on work and uses work as a way to define morality; when people are busy they are good, lazy people are the worst animals of society. To him, honesty is important but he becomes a hypocrite at the end of the novel when he succumbs to the immorality and lies to Kurtz' fiance to save her innocence about the world. Marlow's Aunt: Introduces the novels idea as women being a representation of society's purity and lack of understanding about the truth. When she hears about Marlow's travels, she assumes he is going for the moral reason of helping the natives and civilizing them, completely ignoring Marlow's hints that it is more about the money. The Mistress: Shows the immoral side of society, when Kurtz chooses her over his intended it shows he is choosing darkness and submitting to his monstrous side. The Russian Trader: He is naive and innocent and completely believes in everything Kurtz tells him about life, and nursed Kurtz back to health multiple times. Unlike the others, he does not seem to have visions of conquest and he seems content in his position in life. He is described as resembling a harlequin. General Manager: He is not very good at his job, the only reason he has the position is because he makes everyone around him uncomfortable and he does not die from illness. Kurtz- Figure proving the downfall of society is complete and everyone has a monster within themselves. He started out as a moral figure for Marlow to strive for, but when he entered the lack of civilization in the jungle he succumbed to his inner, darkest self because he did not have society surrounding him, making him keep the monster inside. The solitude allowed his darkness to come out. The Intended- Allegorical symbol for purity and blindness of society, when Marlow lies to her he ultimately decides to further the blindness of society and accept that the truth is not the best option. List important symbols from the work and their significance
The river symbolizes a place of importance and safety and progress
Rivets: When it comes time to put everything together, you need a fricking rivet
Author: Joseph Conrad
Date of Publication:
Literary Period: Modernist
Genre: Novella
Describe the setting and then explain the relevance of the setting.
Themes (These statements should be complete sentences and completely developed ideas)
Plot Summary (Please do not copy and paste. Simply list the high points of the novel) - Consider creating a visual flow chart or graph and posting it here. (Beginning, Middle, End)
BOOK ONE:
- We are chilling on a boat in London, and it is established that this is going to be a double layer narrative where there is a story being told inside the story and Marlow starts his flashback
- Marlow goes to Brussels, and with his aunt's help, who believes he wants to go to educate and help people, he receives a job as a steamboat captain and goes to the Congo
- He gets his job, meets the fates, gets his head measured by a doctor who never expects him to come back because usually the steamboat captains die while they're gone and never come back
- He gets on a ship and talks about how weirdly it behaves and how the jungles seems to be watching them
- Start at the outer station, where he meets the accountant, and finds the random explosions, then he goes and walks through the jungle with the fat guy who is not fit for walking through the jungle
- We get to the inner station, where we discover that the boat has sunk and he meets the manager who is probably plotting againts kurtz and he hears about the plots against Kurtz and all my buddy wants is rivets and to fix his stupid boat and get to Kurtz so he can make money
- All this time there is personification about the jungle and how it is alive and watching and thinking
PART TWO:- They get on a boat
- The find the book
- They get attacked
- The helmsman dies
Part Three:Memorable Quotes and their SIGNIFICANCE.
Describe the significance of the opening scene.
Describe the significance of the closing scene.
Describe the author's style and provide examples from the text.
List importance characters and their significance.
Narrator-Not a common presence in the novel, offers an unbiased outside viewpoint towards Marlow's story.
Marlow- "Hero" figure, going on a quest to discover the truth about society and the absolute overall truth, hopes that people are better than they actually are. Moral figure who focuses on work and uses work as a way to define morality; when people are busy they are good, lazy people are the worst animals of society. To him, honesty is important but he becomes a hypocrite at the end of the novel when he succumbs to the immorality and lies to Kurtz' fiance to save her innocence about the world.
Marlow's Aunt: Introduces the novels idea as women being a representation of society's purity and lack of understanding about the truth. When she hears about Marlow's travels, she assumes he is going for the moral reason of helping the natives and civilizing them, completely ignoring Marlow's hints that it is more about the money.
The Mistress: Shows the immoral side of society, when Kurtz chooses her over his intended it shows he is choosing darkness and submitting to his monstrous side.
The Russian Trader: He is naive and innocent and completely believes in everything Kurtz tells him about life, and nursed Kurtz back to health multiple times. Unlike the others, he does not seem to have visions of conquest and he seems content in his position in life. He is described as resembling a harlequin.
General Manager: He is not very good at his job, the only reason he has the position is because he makes everyone around him uncomfortable and he does not die from illness.
Kurtz- Figure proving the downfall of society is complete and everyone has a monster within themselves. He started out as a moral figure for Marlow to strive for, but when he entered the lack of civilization in the jungle he succumbed to his inner, darkest self because he did not have society surrounding him, making him keep the monster inside. The solitude allowed his darkness to come out.
The Intended- Allegorical symbol for purity and blindness of society, when Marlow lies to her he ultimately decides to further the blindness of society and accept that the truth is not the best option.
List important symbols from the work and their significance